Australia: Hunter Valley EV festival and competition Nov 20t

Samd

Samd

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Messages
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Location
Ballarat, AU
I'm not from the group, or even from NSW - but noticed this online. Interesting competition limited by the price of commercially available batteries.
http://hunterevfestival.com.au/about

Cheers.
 
Looks interesting. Just skimming over the restrictions, it seems my ebike could enter if I took my 14s battery and cut it down to 12s 10Ah to fit in the price restriction, add a front facing light and some rear facing indicator lights. Could probably get a range of 30km's or more keeping above the cumulative lap time (avg speed of 30km/h). I couldn't see anywhere saying it had to have 4 wheels and you could just remove the chain to remove human power.

... Could probably go ever further if you charged to >4.2V and discharged to <3.... it is a competition after all!
 
Thats what I was thinking with my aprilia, maybe run some cheap b grade lipos from hobbyking. Dont' know if $200 includes freight....

Looks like you get canned if you go over 40kph though on the straights. Might be a challenge to average 30kph per lap then - no pedalling allowed. Never been on a kart track on my ebike.

It mentions a prize - I have emailed to see if it is monetary - might be worth a crack if it helps cover travel.
There is a school listed using a 500w hubmotor - so I guess it is possible....
 
I thought it was your vehicle must be capable of greater than 40 km/h (it would be near impossible to keep above 30km/h avg if not). Yes I saw one of the entries is using a hub motor bought from solarbike.com.au - bit of a rip off at that price.

I only paid $13 postage on my last battery buy. Not sure whether B-grade lipo is enough discount to warrant buying from HK.
 
Table 1: Single and Dual Seat Division Regulations

Minimum Terminal Speed
Vehicle must be capable of >40km/hr on level ground with no wind assistance.
Click to expand...

Table 3: Demonstration Division Regulations

Vehicle Safety Design Compliance
The vehicle must be registered in, or have official approval to travel on Australian public roads
Click to expand...

Don't these two rules combined rule out an ebike?
 
Table 3: Demonstration Division Regulations

Vehicle Safety Design Compliance
The vehicle must be registered in, or have official approval to travel on Australian public roads
Click to expand...

Don't these two rules combined rule out an ebike?[/quote]

No. That is a different category, the demonstration vehicle one. The competitive categories are the single seat, dual seat ones.
 
Over 40kph is good news! My misinterpretation. Now my benefit!

I got an email back last night to say the prize is currently at least $500 at this stage. Which would cover a bit of travel - but bugger-all chance I would win. If you can buy enough watt-hours of LiPo for $200 then you can ignore a fancy setup that negates drag and stand a good chance against fancy streamlined recumbents - there is no pedalling allowed. My aprilia crankmotor might benefit from the gearing running back thru the derailleur rather than a hub motor setup.

It doesnt have to be a registered vehicle - if you look close there is an either/or clause.

It's huge travel for me and a bike tho, but am hoping someone from ES might have a go and post some details, maybe some video...
 
Received a reply from my inquiry yesterday.

In answer to your query about if it is possible to use an electric bicycle with the chain removed the answer is yes. We have deliberately designed the rules in the single seat division to give a relatively low stress entry point for those wanting to enter the competition. There are a few additional things to consider though.

It’s certainly possible to use a bicycle with an electric hub motor and the chain or pedals removed. However, a standard road legal electric bicycle in Australia has a hub motor of about 200W which will is unlikely to be powerful enough to make the average speed of 30km/hr required for the competition (there are hills and tight corners on the course). It is possible to purchase hub motors larger than 200W so retrofitting a bicycle is still an attractive option. There is a blog on the website to help you calculate the size of motor you might need – see the link at http://hunterevfestival.com.au/category/ev-prize/build-resources

It’s also necessary for the total cost of the batteries to be less than a stand alone retail value in Australia of $200. This can’t be part of a package deal with an electric bicycle.

If I can help you with anything else please let me know.

Gary
Click to expand...
 
Yes AJ looks like it could be some fun. Shame its a 10 hour drive away for me, even further for you though!!

Still thinking about making an appearance though... these events wouldn't come up too often.
 
the only option if battery price is under $200aud and min 30km/hr and batteries have to be sourced in oz, is ,
agm bricks ( about $50aud plus for 12-14ahr), you need 48v to go over 30km/hr, 36v might just get you there,
I dont think they have thought the rules out very well. Nimh and lithium will be way too expensive.
so by trying to make it very open they have in fact restricted what is useable to an old fashioned ineffecient lead based battery system.
 
- Only new batteries may be used (no second hand purchases).
- Batteries or battery components must be purchased at a location and price available to the Australian general public
- Teams must supply a receipt for their battery which includes the contact details of the supplier and a clear description of the battery item(s).
- Batteries bought as part of a kit must be quoted at the advertised stand alone price.
- In the context of the EV-Prize, “battery” is a generic term corresponding to any rechargeable device capable of being recharged by electrical energy.
Click to expand...

From my interpretation, 'available to the Australian general public' does not necessarily mean from within Australia. Hobbyking batteries are available to the general Australian public, a good number of batteries are even shipped from within Aus. It would be a shame if you had to use lead...

With the cost restriction they may be trying to make the event available to more people, and also make the event a reasonable length of time... you don't want to have to race for 3 + hours
 
whatever said:
the only option if battery price is under $200aud and min 30km/hr and batteries have to be sourced in oz, is ,
agm bricks ( about $50aud plus for 12-14ahr), you need 48v to go over 30km/hr, 36v might just get you there,
I dont think they have thought the rules out very well. Nimh and lithium will be way too expensive.
so by trying to make it very open they have in fact restricted what is useable to an old fashioned ineffecient lead based battery system.
Click to expand...

BS. :roll:

Try these out.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=14653

Available in Oz. Can get four of them for <$200. And have been good enough to get me >50kph on my setup.
 
Yeah, that's true about hobbyking. Four of those HK bricks as 10s 2P would get me doing 30 - 50kph on the flat for at least 25min I reckon. Just not sure about cornering my bike on a gokart track. Think I might prank call the local kart track and see if it would let me on for 30 mins.... :mrgreen:
 
jamo96 said:
Looks interesting. Just skimming over the restrictions, it seems my ebike could enter if I took my 14s battery and cut it down to 12s 10Ah to fit in the price restriction, add a front facing light and some rear facing indicator lights. Could probably get a range of 30km's or more keeping above the cumulative lap time (avg speed of 30km/h). I couldn't see anywhere saying it had to have 4 wheels and you could just remove the chain to remove human power.

... Could probably go ever further if you charged to >4.2V and discharged to <3.... it is a competition after all!
Click to expand...

I also thought fully discharging could be worth a go if you bought b-grade liPo, but Hobbyking AU don't seem to stock them....

In parallel I have been thinking of setting something like this up in Victoria - but informal - what do people reckon?
 
Got another email from the organiser:

The $200 limit needs to include postage if the batteries are sourced from overseas. Postage does not need to be counted if the batteries are purchased from a source within Australia.
Click to expand...
 
thanks adrian for hobbyking link, I checked the link, the cells are 5ahr, useful ahr will be a bit lower I guess.
Considering most commercial ebikes will use 10ahr, it means its still going to be quite a distance restricted ebike.
With 5ahr max I dont think you could go very far without pedalling and a hilly racetrack, at 50kphr the distance travelled will likely be quite low.
I think the solar car race guys have spent many years tweaking their regulations, probably following their lead and having
maximum limits of battery capacity are a better way to create an even playing field for distance races.
 
I get the full 5ahr when charging to 4.2v, and it is possible to get more if charged higher.

I regularly get 50kms with four of those packs, at ~40kph cruise speeds, but with pedaling. Would be interesting to see what I could get at 30kph no pedaling.
 
I usually run a 14s 5Ah pack in my ebike. I could probably get 15km out of it with no pedalling at about 40km/h.

For this race I would have to run 10 or 11s 10Ah. I would think this would get me about 25-30km or so. Which is about 30 laps. I wouldn't think the organisers would want the race to go on for hours and hours.
 
That karting track just below the westgate in Melbs might have some unexpected visitors! Research...
 
jamo: if you ever test your setup for max distance full throttle on near flat ground no pedalling would be interesting to see what you get
 
AAAARGH! I'm booked up to work 9 - 5 sat and sun in Sydney BUT this looks to be an inaugural and therefore yearly event. :D

Maybe by next year i'll even have something to bring along....and plenty of spare room in my van, too. :lol:
 
Found this - you can calculate what you would consume in energy if your bike was 100% efficient for speeds. Then you can look at the efficiency range of your motor and hash out a plan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance
 
Don't trust it. Especially since the course is no velodrome, with heaps of corners.

Just take your bike for a ride with just as many corners, trying to maintain 30kph, and see what the stats say. Much more accurate.
 
whatever said:
jamo: if you ever test your setup for max distance full throttle on near flat ground no pedalling would be interesting to see what you get
Click to expand...

yes that would be interesting to see. But my motor is out of action until I replace the phase wires, which is not appearing to be an easy task... may have to get the dremel or drill out to modify the wire entry into the axle inside the motor. They obviously make these motors with the view that the phase wires will never be replaced...
 
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